The input file

This document describes all available configuration parameters for the spectroscopic simulation pipeline.

Basic Information

Created	Creation date of the configuration file. This can be ignored, really, because the this date will be overwritten by the current date when the simulation is run.
Author	Author of the configuration file
Planet name	Name of the target exoplanet. This field is used to resolve astrophysical parameters from the database if any of the parameters are set to DATABASE.

Simulation Setup

modelname	Name of the current model run. This sets the prefix and directory for the output files
seed	Random number generator seed for noise generation. Set to None for a random seed. Different seeds will produce different photon noise realizations (under Poisson noise).

File Paths

These parameters set the paths to the necessary files for the simulation.

planet_spectrum_path	Path to the planetary spectrum file. This can be either a transmission or an emission spectrum; emission units are expected in W/m^2/micron.
star_spectrum_path	Path to the stellar spectrum file. The example spectrum is a PHOENIX model, but any spectrum in the correct units can be used.
data_cube_path	Path to the data cube file. This file sets the actual wavelength grid of the simulated data.

Astrophysical Parameters

These parameters set the underlying simulated physical objects.

Rp	Planetary radius in Jupiter radii Can be set to DATABASE to pull from database
Rstar	Stellar radius in solar radii Can be set to DATABASE to pull from database
kp	Expected planetary orbital velocity assuming circular orbit (km/s) Set to NULL to calculate from orbital parameters
v_sys	Systemic velocity (km/s) Can be set to DATABASE to pull from database
v_rot	Equatorial rotational velocity Set to NULL to calculate from orbital parameters
P_rot	Orbital period of the planet (days). This can be used to calculated the equatorial rotation velocity if v_rot is set to None, assuming a spin-synchronized orbit. Can be set to DATABASE to pull from database
a	Semi-major axis of the planet (AU). This can be used to calculated the planetary orbital velocity if kp is set to NULL. Can be set to DATABASE to pull from database
scale	Scaling factor for the model spectrum
LD	Enable/disable limb darkening This parameter only affects transmission observations.
u1	First quadratic limb darkening coefficient Not used if LD=False or in emission mode
u2	Second quadratic limb darkening coefficient Not used if LD=False or in emission mode
include_rm (experimental)	Enable/disable the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect Only affects transmission observations
v_rot_star	Stellar equatorial rotational velocity (km/s) Only used if include_rm=True in transmission mode
lambda_misalign	Misalignment angle between planet orbit and stellar rotation axis (degrees) Only used if include_rm=True in transmission mode
inc	Orbital inclination relative to line of sight (degrees) Only used if include_rm=True in transmission mode

Instrument Parameters

These parameters set the instrumental setup and effects.

blaze	Enable/disable the blaze function, which generally reduces throughput (and therefore increases noise) toward the edge of the orders.
wav_error	Enable/disable wavelength solution errors. Included errors are fit from IGRINS WASP-77Ab data.
order_dep_throughput	Enable/disable order-dependent throughput variations
vary_throughput	Enable/disable temporal throughput variations IGRINS variations fit to WASP-77Ab emission data

Observation Parameters

These parameters determine the type of simulated observations and the conditions under which they are taken.

observation	Observation type: “emission” or “transmission”. This sets how the planetary and stellar signals are combined.
phase_start	Phase at observation start 0 = transit center, 0.5 = secondary eclipse Can be set to DATABASE to use transit duration
phase_end	Phase at observation end 0 = transit center, 0.5 = secondary eclipse Can be set to DATABASE to use transit duration
n_exposures	Number of exposures to simulate
star	Enable/disable stellar component
telluric	Enable/disable telluric absorption.
SNR	Signal-to-noise ratio per pixel
tell_type	Telluric simulation type Options: “ATRAN” (radiative transfer, computed for IGRINS) or “data-driven” (fit to IGRINS standard star data)
time_dep_tell	Enable/disable time-dependent tellurics. Only applicable when tell_type is set to “data-driven” and telluric is set to True.

Analysis Parameters

These parameters set how the simulated data is analyzed to extract the planetary signal. The only analysis currently implemented is Principal Components Analysis (PCA).

n_princ_comp	Number of principal components to remove before cross-correlation.
divide_out_of_transit (experimental)	Enable/disable division by median out-of-transit data Only used in transmission mode
out_of_transit_dur (experimental)	Duration of out-of-transit data in units of transit duration Only used if divide_out_of_transit=True in transmission mode